


can't read the lines (let alone in between)

by awkwardspiritanimals



Series: a better communication [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mind Reader!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 15:12:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2737289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardspiritanimals/pseuds/awkwardspiritanimals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma has been avoiding Fitz, and he can’t figure out why, which is pretty incredible given the fact that he can read her mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	can't read the lines (let alone in between)

Fitz is fairly certain Jemma Simmons is the most confusing person he’s ever met.

She’s been avoiding him for the past four days, and he can’t figure out why, which is pretty incredible, given the fact that he can read her mind. But that’s really part of the problem, because all he’s been getting from her thoughts during the time she’s been avoiding him is happiness.

Except it’s not happiness, exactly, because he knows what happiness feels like in general, and what Jemma’s happiness feels like specifically, and this is close but not exact, like happiness with something extra.

Fitz can’t even figure out what he did. The last time she’d acted normally around him, they’d been studying in the library, and he’d told some joke he can’t even remember now. Maybe that had bothered her, except that he’s pretty sure she had laughed; he can’t be sure, because at the same time, the not-exactly-happiness had sort of overwhelmed him. But right after that, she’d blanched and stared at him like she was waiting for him to say something, and when he’d remained silent, Jemma had packed up her books and left quickly without a word, leaving a feeling of panic mixed with the strange happiness in his brain behind her.

Was she breaking up with him? Maybe she’d gotten tired of dating a mind reader, or maybe she’d just gotten tired of dating _him_. Did this mean she didn’t want to be his friend or his partner any more as well?

And couldn’t she at least tell him that she was breaking up with him, instead of leaving him in limbo like this? This had been her idea in the first place, after all. He had been perfectly content to be her lab partner and her best friend, and yeah, maybe he’d had a bit of a crush on her, but Fitz is pretty sure anyone with eyes and a brain would have a crush on Jemma Simmons after knowing her for more than twenty minutes, and he’d figured that he would get over it eventually. She had been the one that chose to imagine them in various rather intimate situations in order to get him to confess about his powers, and she had kissed him first, rather insistently.

If Jemma had decided to call the whole thing off, relationship, friendship and partnership, couldn’t she have at least told him?

——————-

She knows she’s not being fair. She knows that she should probably stop avoiding him. But knowing she should stop and actually stopping are two very different things.

Jemma hadn’t meant to think it. She hadn’t even realized she was going to until she’d done it; until she’d thought _I love you_ and her mind reader boyfriend hadn’t done so much as blink, much less say it back. Running out of the library without a word probably wasn’t the best course of action, but she’d been too mortified to actually think about what she was doing until she’d locked herself in her room.

It wasn’t that she was embarrassed to be in love with him. It wasn’t anything new, not really, though that was the first time she’d actually labeled it. And Jemma had felt pretty sure that Fitz loved her back, because sometimes he looked at her like he never wanted to stop, but when she’d thought _I love you_ , the boy with the direct connection into her thoughts hadn’t done anything.

So she’s avoiding him. Except, not entirely. Over the past six days, she’s eaten breakfast with him twice and lunch three times, giving him one word answers and reciting the periodic table of elements in her head to avoid thinking about anything to do with what had happened in the library and to prevent it from happening again, and she still sits next to him in their shared classes. Yesterday, exhausted from class and from avoiding Fitz, she’d gone to his room instead of hers out of habit without realizing it. She’d woken up in his bed a few hours later to find him working at his desk; the look on his face was so hopeful it had made her feel sick, and she had left as soon as she could. Those few hours had been the best sleep she’d gotten in a week.

Jemma glances up from her homework, and her breath catches when she sees Fitz standing in front of her, pulling on one of his ears in that way he does when he’s nervous. He’s missed a button on his shirt and his hair is kind of a mess, and a fresh wave of guilt over her behavior wells up in her chest.

“Hey, Jem,” he says, sounding nervous.

“Hello,” she says, only able to hold his gaze for a few seconds before she has to look back down at her papers.

Fitz sighs before he speaks again, “I was wondering if, um, maybe, you’d want to study with me? Tomorrow, in the library?”

He sounds so nervous, like he is afraid she’s going to turn down this most basic of requests, and she bites her lip, forcing herself to look up at him with a small smile, “Of course. Three?”

His face lights up, and he nods, staring at her for a few seconds, and she recites the noble gases in her head until he turns with another nod, hitching his backpack up. He glances back once, still smiling, and she almost chases after him.

—————

Fitz checks in the window outside of the library to make sure his tie is straight; maybe dressing up was a little much, but if this is his last chance to keep Jemma from breaking up with him, he’d figured he should go all out. She’s sitting at their usual table, and looks up at him with a small smile when he sits down but goes back to her work without a word. They sit in silence for ten minutes before she says anything.

“You dressed up.”

“What?” he says, looking up at her and then back down at himself, “Oh, yeah, well, study date with my girlfriend,” and he’s a little bit nervous to use both of those words, _date_ and _girlfriend_ , unsure if they apply to him any more, “You like when I dress up, right?” he asks, because maybe he’d read that wrong too, like he’s apparently reading whatever is going on now wrong, and maybe he’s always read her wrong and okay, maybe he’s going a little crazy, but it’s been a week since he’s kissed her properly and Fitz doesn’t think he can be blamed for a little temporary insanity. At breakfast a few days ago, she’d leaned over to kiss him and it had been great for a few seconds until she’d made a surprised squeaking sound like she had only just then realized what she was doing, and she’d left the dining hall like he’d burned her.

“I do.”

“Good. Don’t know why I really bothered though,” he says, and then scrambles to continue when her face falls, “When we’re studying, I mean. It’s not like you’re going to pay attention to me over your favorite thing in the world.”

Okay, it’s pretty desperate and pathetic, but he feels desperate and pathetic; Fitz has, over the course of the time they’ve known each other, made that joke roughly a thousand times. But even if she doesn’t laugh, it almost always without fail brings that one particular expression to her face, equal parts fondness and exasperation, and he figures if he can get Jemma to at least smile at his lame joke he’s got a chance.

She does smile, and the not-exactly-happiness feeling surges, and, most importantly, he hears her voice in his head for the first time in nearly a week.

_I love you._

“I love you, too,” he replies, overwhelmed by the feeling and the relief. Fitz smiles at Jemma, and she smiles back, and he’s through two problems on his homework before his head snaps up to stare at her.

“Did I just-?”

“Yes,” she says, and then begins to pack her notes and books into her bag.

“Jemma-” Fitz starts, and she shushes him. He dumps his own stuff into his backpack, figuring that he can at least follow her this time, if she won’t let him talk. When she stands however, Jemma grabs his hand and tugs him after her towards one of the private study rooms along the back wall.

“Jemma-” he tries again, and she doesn’t bother shushing him this time, just tugs him forward and kisses him, one hand threading through his curls and the other wrapping around a fistful of his shirt. Fitz vaguely registers the twin thumps of their backpacks hitting the ground, but then loses himself in kissing Jemma, pulling her closer to him with his arms around her waist.

By the time they pull away for air, Jemma is sitting up on the table in the center of the room with Fitz standing between her knees, and the only thing he can think to say is, “You love me?”

She nods, “Of course I do. Why do you think I’ve been avoiding you all week?”

“What?”

Jemma raises her eyebrows at him, “I thought that a week ago and you didn’t do anything. I was slightly embarrassed.”

“A week ago? I didn’t-” Fitz starts and then he thinks about the not-exactly-happiness that had started right before she’d left and persisted throughout the week, that had surged right before she thought the phrase just now and- “Oh. Oh! That’s what that feeling is? Love?”

“What?”

“When you thought that, my brain didn’t translate it as words. It translated it as feeling, which is why I’ve been so confused about you avoiding me all week, because all I’ve been getting from you is this feeling like happiness. Except it wasn’t happiness exactly, because I know what your happiness feels like, and this was like happiness plus something.”

Jemma shakes her head, but she’s smiling, “Your brain translated it as feeling instead of words?” he nods, and she shoves at his shoulder with a laugh. “And you couldn’t identify the feeling of love?

“Well it’s not like anyone’s ever been in love with me before!” he defends himself, and she just laughs more, pulling him close so she can rest her forehead against his.

“You are, without a doubt, the dumbest genius mind reader I’ve ever met.”

“Since I’m the only genius mind reader you’ve ever met, aren’t I, technically, also the smartest genius mind reader you’ve ever met?”

“No,” she says, and he’s about to argue with her, but she leans forward to kiss him, and he forgets what he was planning on saying and instead loses himself in kissing his girlfriend. Fitz only manages to pull away when he feels Jemma’s hands fumbling for his belt buckle, dropping his head to her shoulder with a groan.

“Not here, Jem.”

“Why not?” she asks, an image blooming in her head and his, and Fitz groans again, wondering how he ever managed to survive a week of that without breaking.

“Because it’s a public study room and the door has a window but no lock,” he answers, and she pouts.

“Fine. My room or yours?” Jemma asks, letting go of his belt so he can step back and she can hop of the table to retrieve her bag.

“Mine, it’s closer,” Fitz says, blushing, and Jemma shakes her head.

“Come on then,” she says, tugging on his hand after handing him his bag, “You’re really no fun at all.”

He waits until they’ve exited the library and started towards the dorms before he turns and pulls her into a dark corner outside of the building, pressing his hips in against hers and brushing his lips over her neck, smiling when she shivers.

“No fun? I bet I can get you to take that back in about fifteen minutes,” he murmurs against her pulse point, and Jemma runs a shaky hand through his hair to get him to look up at her.

“It’s going to take you fifteen whole minutes?” she asks, smirking. He straightens so he can whisper directly against the skin of her ear.

“Well, you’re very stubborn. Plus, I like to take my time,” he says, trying not to blush as he pulls back. The look on her face is a little surprised and a little proud and very, very turned on, and Fitz is beginning to regret not letting her talk him into staying in the study room. He tugs on her waist to pull her back onto the path towards his room before he does something that will inevitably end with his embarrassment in front of his classmates.

It takes them longer than it probably should to reach his room, since they keep pulling each other into secluded areas, but eventually Jemma is tugging him through his door by his tie, already working the knot loose to pull it over his head, and he spins so he can press her back against the door to close it. This earns him a soft sound of approval and the pressure of her hips against his, and she threads a hand through his hair so she can meet his eyes.

“I love you. I hadn’t gotten to actually _say_ that yet,” Jemma says, and Fitz smiles, leaning in to kiss her softly.

“I love you, too,” he whispers against her mouth as her fingers set to work on the buttons of his shirt and the not-exactly-happiness feeling swells warmly in his head as he tugs her back towards his bed, trying to navigate piles of laundry without taking his lips from hers.

Fitz has been able to read minds for as long as he can remember, and nothing has ever felt quite like Jemma Simmons loving him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you thought one of them being a mind reader would just magically solve Fitzsimmons’ communication issues, you’re severely underestimating both Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons.
> 
> Probably one, maybe two more parts pre-canon for this series, unless I come up with something else.
> 
> A note on Fitz’s powers and Fitzsimmons investigating them: I haven’t actually thought about how Fitz’s powers work or why he has them. I’ve been continuing to hope that we’ll get more back story on him at some point and I can work from there, but I probably won’t write fic exploring his powers and how they work and why he has them until I make some decisions about his back story/we get more information on his back story. I wanted to say that because a few of you asked about seeing that after the last bit.


End file.
